Celebrate Independents! SIBA’s 2015 Book Award Winners

The best in southern literature, from the people who would know . . . Southern Independent (and independently-minded!) Booksellers

(Columbia, SC) Southern indie booksellers once again demonstrate their independence of mind by choosing an excitingly eclectic collection of books for the 2015 SIBA Book Awards.

Nominated by booksellers and their customers, vetted by bookstores and selected by a jury of Southern booksellers, these are the Southern books that Southern bookstores were most passionate about, and inspired the most “you’ve got to read this” moments and “hand sell” moments in stores across the South. They represent the best of Southern literature, from the people who would know—Southern indie booksellers.

Nonfiction Winner: Factory Man by Beth Macy (Little Brown and Company) “A book that excels at bringing, this time recent, history to narrative life. Macy's book has characters who are difficult to sympathize with, but she overcomes this by placing them in extraordinarily important, world-changing circumstances. Macy does a remarkable job of bringing potentially dull material (furniture-making details, factory time clocks, mundane family squabbles) and raising it to consequential and dramatic literature.” – Scuppernong Books, Greensboro, NC

Cooking Winner: Heritage by Sean Brock (Artisan Publishers)“Loved all the recipes I cooked. I’d never had ‘hoppin john’ and now I know how to make it. It was great!!” – Books Unlimited, Franklin, NC

Children’s Winner: Brown Girl Dreaming by Jacqueline Woodson (Nancy Paulsen Books) “I love the originality of a memoir written in free verse, and the lessons and viewpoint this book has to offer are extremely important, especially with the racial issues that present themselves in today's society.” – Tubby and Coo’s, New Orleans, LA

Young Adult Winner: League of Seven by Alan Gratz, Brett Helquist (illustrator) (Starscape Books)“Alan Gratz has masterfully created an alternate history that masterfully grabs the attention of anyone interested in steampunk, Edison, lost civilizations, unusually large monsters, heads in jars or just plain adventure.” – The Country Bookshop, Southern Pines, NC

Read Your Okra! Announcing the 2015 Summer Okra Picks

Columbia, SC – Summer is the time for picking okra, and the Southern Independent Booksellers have just picked a fresh crop -- the 2015 Summer Okra Picks have just been chosen. A bushel of books that represent the best in southern lit, fresh off the vine. All the picks have a strong Southern focus and are published between July and September, 2015, and all of them have fans among Southern indie booksellers; people who are always looking out for the next great writer who should be on your plate and in your TBR stack. So it is very likely the next time you visit your local Southern indie bookstore, someone will hand you one and say, “You’ve got to read this!”